I keep to this routine every day without variation. The repetition itself becomes the important thing; it's a form of mesmerism. I mesmerize myself to reach a deeper state of mind.

After all this, I won't start to hate you.

It's because of you when I'm in bed in the morning that I can wind my spring and tell myself I have to live another good day.

At my core, there is nothing. Neither is it parched wastelands. At my core, there is love. I'll go on loving that ten-year-old boy named Tengo forever --- his strength, his intelligence, his kindness. He does not exist here, with me, but flesh that does not exist will never die, and promises unmade are never broken.

Kids' hearts are malleable, but once they gel it's hard to get them back the way they were.

So once you're dead there's just nothing? Mari: Basically... Korogi: I get so scared when I start thinking about this stuff. I can hardly breathe, and my whole body wants to shrink into a corner. It's so much easier to just believe in reincarnation.

I think of myself as more the non-turn-on type. so when I do get turned on, I don’t trust it, I have to investigate the source.